Blog Post

We look too often to therapists, to politics, to money, to success, to luck even to ‘fix’ us. And those things are great, those things can help us. But I’m just gonna throw it out there that skiing may work just a little bit better.

I’ve been dragging through the past few weeks, dear concerned reader. I’ve been laid up with the flu, straight up get-me-outta-my-body flu. I haven’t been on skis in 11 days – almost blasphemy in a ski town. My husband is out of town for a month which makes me a single mom for the time being, and props to single parents – it’s not easy to do alone, even though my kid is sort of the most amazing kid on the planet. I headed out the door this morning full of brain chatter about what I needed to get done, how to get to work on time, what said amazing kid needs today, grocery lists, to do lists for the house, and my lingering stuffy sinuses and what to do about them. I was looking at skiing today as a chore I had to do, a commitment to this blog. One run, I said to myself, and then I’ll get back to the business of real life. Poor me, life is hard and on top of it all I have to go skiing today, poor poor me.

As I rode up the gondi into the misty murky fog I was sure my one run would be it. And then I got off the gondola and just the sight of the mountain rising above that mist reminded me that I too could rise above my own misty murky fog. And so I skied. Run after run after run. And it was so glorious.

The mountain is simply stunning today. The valley is cloaked in really thick clouds, it makes me feel like the mountain is the only thing that exists. The groomers are smooth, the vibrations from perfect corduroy shook me out of my busy mind and into that very moment. I took off my googles on the lifts to feel the moisture in the clouds moving over my skin. I watched the folks under the lift on Sunshine Express and really appreciated the way each skier made turns differently, used their poles in unique ways, marking their morning into the terrain as they saw fit. I sunk into the feeling of my knees, ankles, waist and shoulders working together to get me down the hill in a way that felt peaceful, pretty, rhythmic, soothing.

And it fixed me. I was just where I was at that moment. Skiing. Being right on that run, that lift, next to that tree, with nothing else I had to think about and nowhere else more important to be. My little defeated feeling heart was officially lifted.

Too hippy dippy for a ski blog for you?

Ok, here is my challenge then. Go up for one run, and see if you don’t forget about all the other stuff, even if just for a moment. See if you get caught up in the beauty of your life, and realize that we all have it incredibly good. See if you don’t take one more run just because you can. And just because you should. It might even make you a better human being. There is a bumper sticker out there that says if everyone skied there’d be no war. I get it.